"John has extraordinary technology and business expertise, and we are delighted that he is joining Microsoft's board of directors," Gates, Microsoft's chairman, said in a statement.

Thompson is a former chief executive of Symantec, where he helped transform the company into a leader in security and storage systems, with revenues growing to $6.2 billion in 2009 from just $632 million in 1999.

Earlier he worked at IBM, holding a number of leadership positions in sales, marketing and software development. He also served as general manager of IBM Americas.

In his current role at Virtual Instruments, he oversees a company that makes products designed to ensure the performance of applications used in cloud computing environments.

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He has been an active investor in early-stage technology companies out of Silicon Valley for about three years.

Thompson currently serves on the board of the United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS), and has been a member of a number of government boards and commissions, including the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and Silicon Valley Blue Ribbon Task Force.